We’ve all received them. Marketing emails, promotional emails, newsletters, no matter what you call them, their purpose is the same.
The sender wants to connect with you and build a relationship by, hopefully, offering you something you like – be that specific information that is of interest or an enticement to purchase.
In this blog, I will give you an overview of email marketing, its pros and cons, and how it can be a powerful tool in your marketing toolbox when appropriately used.
Email marketing is one of the best ways to speak directly with your new and existing customers and keep your business top of mind. Indeed, “77% of marketers have seen an increase in email engagement over the last 12 months.”
So, it’s definitely worth considering adding it to your marketing strategy if you haven’t already done so.
How Does Email Marketing Work?
Email marketing is so effective because it allows your carefully crafted content to go directly to a curated list of recipients who have signed up to be on your mailing list. We call these recipients a ‘warm audience’. They have shown interest in you and your business and have a greater probability of converting into a customer. By sending regular emails, you keep yourself and your business top of mind, and in the process, your audience learns more about the products and services you provide.
Is Email Marketing Effective?
I get asked a lot about email marketing and whether it’s worth doing or not. Of course, as with all marketing efforts, there will be some trial and error to see what works best for your audience. But once that’s out of the way, it will be a powerful part of your successful marketing strategy.
Let’s take a closer look at some of the pros and cons surrounding email marketing, so you can decide for yourself if it’s right for you.
What are the Benefits of Email Marketing??
Let’s start by looking at some of the benefits of Email Marketing:
- Emails are a very effective way to foster a relationship with your audience by delivering a personalised experience. And by personalised, I don’t mean simply adding their name in the salutation. I mean providing targeted information to them. You can also create email sequences to welcome new members to your mailing list and tell them more about you and your business. “More than 8 out of 10 people will open a welcome email, generating 4x as many opens and 10x as many clicks as other email types.”
- Emails help drive traffic to your blog, website or social media. Have you written a new article lately? Or launched a new product or service? Let your mailing list know and get more eyes on your content.
- Emails allow you to build a community and offer exclusive discounts to encourage sales. They can be especially effective as part of your customer retention strategy.
- Emails are cost-effective. Besides the price of your email subscription service and the time you need to craft your emails, the cost is minimal, meaning that you can expect a good ROI – especially when “50% of people buy from marketing emails at least once per month“
- Emails are scalable, sharable, and measurable. Once you have developed your email template and have a process in place for creating your content calendar, you have the main work done. Then it’s time to sit back and watch your mailing list grow! As with any marketing effort, it’s important to track success. Critical KPIs to consider with emails are; open rates, clicks and conversions.
- Emails give you an owned media channel. Your mailing list is your own! We all use social media to reach potential customers, but what happens when those platforms go down or your accounts get hacked or disabled? Social Media is great, don’t get me wrong, but it is a rented property. Having a mailing list is stable and a direct channel you control to contact your warmest audience.
Remember, no matter what attention your email gets – read, deleted, or archived – they serve as a way of reminding people about your business and keeping you front of mind!
Now, let’s examine some of the cons associated with email marketing.
What are the Disadvantages of Email Marketing?
Like all marketing activities, there are some disadvantages to take into account when considering adopting an email marketing strategy:
- It can take time. In the beginning, you may need to experiment with copy and content to find out what works for your audience.
- Spam. Unfortunately, some of your emails may end up in the spam folder. You can follow guidelines to help avoid this, but they are not always guaranteed.
- Size. When designing your email templates, you must consider the design and size of the images you use to ensure they load quickly.
- Competition. Email marketing is a popular tool in a digital marketing strategy, so you won’t be the only one trying to get your customers’ attention.
- Unopened emails. Despite your meticulously designed emails and engaging, relevant content, some emails will go unopened. Unfortunately, it’s the nature of the activity. Frustratingly, you can never plan which emails will be opened and which will not. So, there is every possibility that that “Best Ever Offer” may go unnoticed
All this aside, the benefits outweigh the disadvantages, but naturally, the final choice is up to you.
If you would like to start building email marketing into your marketing plan, here are some tips for how to start!
How can I start using Email Marketing For My Business?
- Your first step is determining how you will build your mailing list. Without that, you don’t have an email marketing plan! Adding a subscription button on your website, putting a shout-out on social media, at the end of your blog, or on your email signature are some ways to start curating your list.
- Next, choose an email platform. There are lots around, and I’m sure you’ve heard the names. Most offer some free, all be they limited, packages. Be careful when selecting the platform for you, though – don’t forget you will scale and grow, so you want to ensure the platform will support that future growth. Here’s a list of some providers you might like to check out:
- Once you have selected the platform and decided on your template, start by creating a welcome email for when people sign up. Having that ready ahead of time means you can automate this process and save time.
- From there, and this is very important, determine the frequency at which you will send emails. Unfortunately, there is no written rule around this, and whether you’re emailing B2B or B2C could affect timings. SeventhSense, which runs an email delivery optimisation system for Hubspot, has produced a Best Practise Guide that might be useful to read through. My advice is to start small and grow. Consistency is vital when it comes to email marketing.
5. Be GDPR compliant. You’ve probably heard the term but may need help understanding it. Simply put, it means that subscribers must be given the option to unsubscribe on each and every email. Most platforms I’ve mentioned above will have the relevant GDPR information in their templates. Still, it’s certainly something to watch out for.
6. Create value. Our Inboxes are bursting with emails – between updates on kids’ football matches, dentist appointment reminders, and the vast number of emails from our favourite online shops. So make sure your email stands out. Give your readers what they’re looking for – the solution to a problem or a good reason why they should purchase from you and not a competitor.
Now, sit back and watch your mailing list grow.
Conclusion
There are a lot of advantages to incorporating email marketing into your marketing plan.
Yes, there are some technical issues to consider too. Still, as I said at the beginning of this article, email marketing is a powerful tool and certainly one to consider adding to your marketing toolkit.
If you are considering adopting email marketing into your marketing strategy and want some help getting started, give me a call. I’d love to chat with you!
Drop me an email at Lissa@dynamicmarketing.ie
And be sure to check out my website for some more of my insights into the wonderful world of B2B marketing!